A SKETCH OF EDUCATION IN SOUTH CAROLINA. 493 



sors: Rev. D. McCaw, Rev. William McWhorter, Rev. W. R. Hemphill, 

 D. D.; Professors J. F. Lee, J. P. Kennedy, Wm. Hood, W. S. Lowry, J. 

 H. Miller, L. P. Kennedy and J. J. McCain. The last five named, 

 together with Dr. W. M. Grier, as President, compose the Faculty at this 

 time. These gentlemen represent, as alumni, quite a large number of 

 Colleges and Universities. The first Faculties were drawn mostly from 

 Northern Colleges, such as Jefferson, Pa , and Miami University, Ohio. 

 In later years, they have been taken from graduates of Colleges in the 

 South — such as the University of Georgia, South Carolina College, and 

 Erskine College. Several of them have taken courses of special study in 

 Yale, Johns Hopkins' University, Amherst, &c. All of these gentlemen 

 have been noted for their devotion to education, and have stood high in 

 their respective departments. 



The course of instruction is believed to be as thorough and full as the 

 ordinary purposes of an education can require, or as students are able to 

 accomplish in the time usually devoted to a college course. 



While it is true that, although like most denominational colleges, 

 Erskine is the child of hard struggles, she has now attained such age 

 and growth as place her future beyond the dangers of ordinary con- 

 tingencies. 



Endowments. Previous to 1853, the College relied on tuition fees and 

 the interest of a few donations and bequests to defray expenses. In that 

 year, " the plan of endowing the College, by the sale of scholarships 

 was adopted, and a vigorous attempt made to carry out the scheme * * 

 Money was scarce, and crops not abundant, but by making liberal offers 

 in the way of tuition, more than $50,000 was raised towards the endow- 

 ment of the College." This, in connection with funds previously received 

 from Capt. Blair and others, and more recently from Christopher Strong, 

 Esq., of Tennessee, and Col. Wm. Wright, of Yorkville, South Carolina, 

 raised the endowment to about $70,000. 



The results of the late war swept away all of this endowment, except- 

 ing about $13,000. Having tried some temporary expedients, the Synod, 

 in 1871, entered on a second effort to secure a permanent endow- 

 ment. The plan was similar to the one of 1853, except that the price of 

 scholarships was raised to $20 each, and the term of the College obliga- 

 tion limited to 1895. Until that time, each share or scrip for $20 entitles 

 the holder to one year's tuition. Though the friends of the College were 

 impoverished and discouraged, by the disasters of the war, this effort 

 met a liberal response, and the sale of scholarships, together with a few 

 additional donations and bequests, raised the endowment to about $80,000. 

 The largest donation was $15,000, by Mrs. Ann Wallace, of Kentucky, 

 and the largest bequest the College has received, was by the will of the 



